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Growing up in roughly beautiful Lapland has affected Outi Tarkiainen’s personality and her voice as a composer. For her, music is almost like a force of nature, which can change people and their destinies. Andrew Mellor met Tarkiainen in Rovaniemi, just as she had finished her song-cycle The Earth, Spring’s Daughter.

Toivanen is an adept writer and a logical improviser with his own individual voice, who balances his output masterfully between natural-sounding harmonic beauty and bold melodic statements.

Tuuletar is a quite recent addition to the high life of Finnish a cappella groups that has already been successful in international vocal group competitions. The genre headline they use is “vocal folk hop”, which is actually quite suitable for their music.

Amen 2 is the second instalment of Mikko Joensuu’s magnum opus, the triptych Amen 1–3.

Poignant, witty, agile, mischievous, thoughtful, beautiful: this is Timo Alakotila and his piano, alone at last.

Jukka Eskola’s 10-inch EP is not only the debut for the trumpeter’s trio (Mikko Helevä, organ; Teppo Mäkynen, drums), but also the dawn of a new label.

A jack of many trades, Sid Hille has reimagined himself as a pianist many times before, but this disc may prove to be a pinnacle in his career.

Finnish instrumental rock band Siinai and Canadian singer-keyboardist Spencer “Moonface” Krug share a taste for melodrama and heroics.

There are perhaps more excellent trumpeters today than ever in Finland. Kalevi Louhivuori certainly belongs to this bunch.